Neural network model for rapid forecasting of freeway link travel time

Estimation of freeway travel time with reasonable accuracy is essential for successful implementation of an advanced traveler information system (ATIS) for use in an intelligent transportation system (ITS). An ATIS consists of a route guiding system that recommends the most suitable route based on the traveler's requirements using the information gathered from various sources such as loop detectors and probe vehicles. This information can be disseminated through mass media or on on-board satellite-based navigational system. Based on the estimated travel times for various routes, the traveler can make a route choice. In this article, a neural network model is presented for forecasting the freeway link travel time using the counter propagation neural (CPN) network. The performance of the model is compared with a recently reported freeway link travel forecasting model using the backpropagation (BP) neural network algorithm. It is shown that the new model based on the CPN network, and the learning coefficients proposed by Adeli and Park, is nearly two orders of magnitude faster than the BP network. As such, the proposed freeway link travel-forecasting model is particularly suitable for real-time advanced travel information and management systems. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.